1. Field of Use
The present invention relates to electronic mail systems and, in particular, to a method for improving the adaptability of a mail queue manager to the constraints and characteristics of the recipients of a mail system.
2. Prior Art
Electronic mail systems are well known in the prior art and, as is well known, are computer based systems used to delivery mail, such as messages and data files, between computer systems through various communications links. A recurring problem with electronic mail systems of the prior art, however, is in achieving an optimum level of performance given the diverse and very variable constraints imposed on system operation due to the constraints and characteristics of the recipient systems and the communications links between the systems. For example, even though many systems of the prior art use such techniques as queueing, or time delayed delivery of message requests, the prioritization of messages to determine sequence of execution and access to resources, and programmed retries of failed attempts to deliver messages, none have been sufficiently adaptable to the characteristics of the system resources to provide optimum performance.
In addition, most mail systems of the prior art require complex procedures to initiate and operate the systems and require equally complex procedures to recover the system in the event of system failure, often resulting in lost messages.
The present invention addresses these and other problems of the systems of the prior art.